Surrender and Making Friends With Your Feelings – Native A.

About This Speaker Tape

Minnesota, age 14, in a foster home with a Native family. Native A. was a boy with no mirror for his own culture until he stepped into ceremonies and found the birth of the American Indian Movement. He describes a life spent navigating two worlds: the intellectual world of society—where he worked as an actor, a private investigator, and a therapist—and the intuitive world of the heart. He speaks of the "bucket" of generational historic trauma passed down through the bloodline, arguing that the seventh generation must empty that bucket so ancestors can finally rest in peace.

He personifies depression as a rude guest who knocks on the door, steals the groceries, and replaces bright shirts with black ones. The turning point is not a fight, but a surrender; by looking depression in the eye and setting rules, he turned an enemy into an ally. He urges the listener to make friends with their feelings to avoid the bruises of fighting oneself.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:45 Vernon F. describes his early introduction to Native culture through a foster family in Minnesota.
• 3:10 Discussion of the American Indian Movement and how it saved his life during a period of low self-esteem.
• 5:20 Vernon F. explains his transition from acting and private investigation into psychology and counseling.
• 7:15 The 'seventh generation' concept and the metaphor of the bucket of inherited sorrow.
• 9:40 The difference between intuitive healing and intellectual medical fields.
• 11:10 Laughter: The story of Depression as a houseguest who takes over the flat.
• 14:20 Advice on making allies with your feelings rather than fighting them.
• timestamps Final thoughts on not compromising the spiritual path to accommodate a lifestyle.